The Scary End

Saturday I went out to the barn, took Walker out of the stall, and he came up lame.  I was really disappointed, but I opted to throw him on the lunge line to see if he would work out of it.  He seemed to so I decided to lunge him a little bit, turn him out in the indoor arena to get the blood flowing, and then hop on for a short walk/jog ride.

When some people turn their horses free in the indoor arena, they roll.  Or they run.  Or they call to other horses.

Not Walker.

Walker just stands there.  He stands where you left him.  And he does not move.  At all.

This may have something to do with the fact that I trained him to stand still whenever I was doing things in the arena so that I could move poles, help people do things, or even leave the arena and come back - all while he just stood there.

But I also think he's just lazy.

Got to keep your ears warm

B was there so she suggested I go get a lunge whip.

Now, I don't really free lunge Walker.  There is a reason for this.  Mainly, the arena is full of things that he can get into, and he looks at free lunging as some kind of game where he attempts to run faster than me before I can stop him and make him change directions.

I was particularly worried about the tractor.  It has metal spikey things, etc.  B said, "Oh don't worry about that.  This is the scary end.  He will never come down here."  To which I replied, "Oh yes he will."

I no sooner said that when Walker galloped past me at full speed, cantered behind the tractor (which is up against a wall), leapt over a bunch of pallets, grabbed a mouthful of hay for the road, and picked his way through a tangle of stacked caveletti.

B said, "I see why he's so good out on the trail now."  Yuh huh.

Walker: defying people's expectations since 2005.